Clarissa Moroso Armchair With Metal Base

Clarissa designed by Patricia Urquiola for Moroso is an armchair with swivel base in varnished steel. A seat and its double: on one side it encloses and protects, on the other it opens up and welcomes. A clear ambivalence which elaborately separates form and content, image and concept, the name hood hints at this double function. The hood is both an ancient and contemporary urban symbol; it protects and frames the face but it can also hide it, signalling a refusal to communicate or interact. The impact is intense, and everything is a game of contrast: the three dimensional seat seems to imply the two-dimensionality of a drawing, the overlapping colours don’t divide but complement, tension isn’t alleviated but stabilized. Clarissa is a dynamic easy chair,ready for action but open to relaxation, the temporary suspension of activity. A combination of competition and collaboration, provocation and aesthetics.